What a guy

I really hadn't expected to get anything for Valentine's Day this year since I assumed Ben would be a little too busy fighting a war to actually think about a silly holiday like Valentine's Day. But to my great surpsise and joy, these arrived at my door today: and these... (most of these are already gone because they were so delicious).
I sure do love that man.

Cross country Skiing

Yesterday I was able to go cross country skiing with my family. I love it so much! We went to Hoodo because there wasn't enough snow where we usually go. The best part is I'm not even sore today! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Here are Caylia and Brittany going down a slight incline. Group picture (even Tahoe got to come).And because it's always funny to watch people crash, here is a video of Maxx doing exactly that.

Now keep in mind these were cross country skiis we were on, not downhill. That didn't stop my dad, Maxx or I from going down this huge hill.

Here is another video, this time of my dad crashing (on the above mentioned hill).

Valentines Day

I know it's a little early but since it seems to take about 3 weeks for a card to get to Ben I'm actually late. I just wanted to share my craftiness of Ben's Valentine's Day card. It turned out pretty great.

Here is the front:

And the inside, who doesn't love a pop up?
I wrote a little note in the white space there in the bottom.

Our last few moments

Time is interesting. When I want time to go quickly it seems to drag on forever; but when I want time to go slowly, it's gone all too quickly. It's nice to know that God has complete control over time and its pace. Leading up to and going through this deployment I have resolved to appreciate the time I'm given. I don't want to wish away the next year to have Ben home again (although I do miss him and want him home) because God has given me this time.

Inversely, I am trying to not mourn the time that has gone too quickly. Ben was home for 5 days this past week and we had a wonderful time; but as previously stated, it went too quickly. On Sunday, the full day before he left, we were able to spend the day in Portland together. We had so much fun thanks to the suggestions of a few friends. First we went to Pittock Masion. It was bitterly cold but also beautiful and decorated for Christmas.

We then checked into our hotel at Hotel Deluxe. It was a fancy hotel with valet parking in downtown Portland.

After that, we walked to Powell's Bookstore which was a few blocks away and spent a couple hours looking at all the books. Ben bought 4 books with his Christmas money to keep him entertained while he is away.

We ended the evening at Portland City Grill which is on the 30th floor of the Unico US Bancorp Tower in downtown Portland. It was awesome; it is a dimly lit restaurant with windows on all sides so we could see all of Portland with its lights including the river. The food was also quite tasty.

And now, Ben is gone again so I get to practice being thankful for the time God has given me.

Thanks for coming

This year I hosted my first Christmas party. We had a wonderful time with lots of food and fun. We ate dinner at the fancy table,

decorated sugar cookies,

ate tripple chunk brownies,

and left a huge mess!

Phase 2

We were able to accomplish another phase of our home upgrade this past week...New windows! Here are some pictures.


The trim around the windows still has to be painted, but I am supposed to wait 1 week for the calking to dry.

Here is the garage window. It is frosted now so we don't have to have an ugly curtain hanging in the garage.
Sliding glass door.

The old windows that were here did not open so when I orded the new ones, I made sure they would open which will be so nice in the summer.

In other news, Ben gets to come home for Christmas! And since the Oregon military can't support their soldiers, it only costs us $550!!!

Army of One

This post is mostly for my husband, but you can read it too -it's just not really that interesting.

The following is a summary of my day, beginning at 5:30am:
Go shopping for all the great deals on black Friday
Come home to put lights on the house
Start the lawn mower by myself
Mow the lawn
Rake the yard
Bring wood into the garage
Sweep the garage
Get a Christmas tree
Trim and set up the Christmas tree and other decorations (ok, this is only half done)
Clean the kitchen
Do dishes
Clean the room
Do laundry
Change the sheets on the bed
Do more laundry (I'm a little behind)

Now, go watch last nights episode of Survivor...And it's only 7:34pm. Imagine how much more I could have done if we were an Army of TWO! I sure do appreciate all the help I get around the house when I have a husband.

I would have posted pictures of all my hard work, but the new camera I bought doesn't have a memory stick, and contrary to what the salesman told me, the memory stick for my old camera does not work with the new camera. Guess I'll have to do more shopping tomorrow.